Peacock’s feathers get ruffled

Just three more days of the Olympics, which means just three more days for everyone to complain about NBC — at least until 2012 in London.

Today I’m here to join the chorus.

Sure, I’ve defended NBC’s right to “ruin” (as some people say) the Olympics with its delayed coverage of sports no one cares about for 3 years and 50 weeks of every quadrennium.

And I understand NBC trying to recoup (at least some of) its enormous rights fees with a barrage of commercials (the events are taped anyway; wait another few minutes and use your DVR to speed through the ads).

I didn’t even have a problem with the decision to put last week’s U.S.-Canada hockey game on MSNBC instead of NBC (although how Cox Cable doesn’t carry MSNBC in HD is beyond me; even Time Warner has it.).

This isn’t about any of that. This is about what should have been an easy decision for NBC, although maybe that’s the problem — given its late-night foibles and many prime-time flops, maybe there’s no such thing for NBC.

Here’s all you need to know about NBC choosing to delay Wednesday’s U.S.-Switzerland hockey quarterfinal by three hours in the Pacific Time Zone and by one hour in the Mountain Time Zone: About 30 minutes after the game ended, NBC already had sent out a press release announcing that today’s semifinal game would be live at noon in all time zones.

In other words, NBC was saying: We messed up, and we’re not going to do it again.

And if that’s not enough evidence, how about this? NBC officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment on their decisions this week, surely because even the network knows there’s no defense for what it did — or what it might still do.

That’s right; we might not be done with this yet. The schedule calls for NBC to delay Sunday’s gold-medal hockey game by three hours here, from 12:15 p.m. to 3:15. Even though NBC wouldn’t say so yesterday, it’s hardly a stretch to assume that if the Americans defeat Finland today, the schedule will change and everyone will see the game live.

But what if the Americans lose today? Will the gold-medal game be on tape?

I wouldn’t rule it out — especially if Canada doesn’t beat Slovakia in tonight’s other semifinal (live at 6:30 on CNBC).

(UPDATE: With the U.S. leading Finland 6-0 in the first period of Friday's semifinal, NBC already announced Sunday's game would be live at 12:15 p.m. PST.)

Whether the U.S. is in the game shouldn’t matter. Look, it’s one thing to show biathlon and cross country and skiing and figure skating on tape, something entirely different to show hockey, a sport its audience (however limited) always watches live.

Just like it’s one thing to delay coverage of prime-time events to a more convenient time for everyone, something entirely different to delay a weekend afternoon telecast.

It’s true more people are watching TV from noon to 6 p.m. on a Sunday than from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (I’m assuming that’s NBC’s rationale here; again, the network wouldn’t comment.) But if that was the only determining factor, then why wouldn’t NBC delay all its sporting events (golf, hockey, Notre Dame) for three hours?